But critics say it is no better than sugar pills and people only get better because they believe the treatment will work - the so-called placebo effect

The findings by GP provoked a mixed response.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson is head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association, which has a policy calling for no NHS funding for homeopathy.

She said: "While the BMA supports the Department of Health view to allow primary care trusts to make their own decisions about how to spend their resources, we are concerned that scarce funding will be spent on treatment that has no evidence base and that may not work."

But Cristal Sumner, chief executive of the British Homeopathic Association, said the spending was justified.

"Many PCTs are still funding it because it is popular with patients and provides a cost-effective alternative when conventional treatments have failed."

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of treatment that uses highly-diluted substances, sometimes so none of the original product is left.

It is given orally in the belief that it will stimulate the body's self-healing mechanism.